Yaya enjoyed feeding one of our pets at Sedhiou, a baby gazelle - apparently orphaned. We also had a friendly boa for awhile.
The Chief of Koussy, Amadou Sané, near Sedhiou
Most of my photos are long gone. I did black and white photography as a Peace Corps volunteer. Catholic Charities arranged to have my photographic enlarger shipped to me without my having to pay anything. I had a photo dark room at Koussy which had electricity for about three hours most evenings. One evening I flipped a towel at an insect that was pestering me, hit the ceiling, dislodging a bushel of debris which fell into my developing trays. We included a fully equipped dark room in the projection cabin of the Cinema de Sedhiou. The enlarger was used also at the Centre du Bopp in Dakar to teach film processing and photo printing.
Senegal: Getting There
We entered training at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, on my birthday, October 15, 1962, the day that one of our aircraft spotted several SS-4 nuclear missiles in Cuba - the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I don't remember anyone paying much attention to this at our training site (the University of Massachusetts at Amherst), our gravest nuclear crisis so far. We were entertained by Professor John Rassias and his team of French language trainers most of the day. And when not so entertained, we built a house and studied how to remain healthy in Senegal and some about African history and culture.
Just before our break for Christmas the head of training for Africa, came from Washington PC to speak with us. He instructed us about packing and shipping our trunks; he was quite emphatic about what to do and not to do. It was snowing and we were delayed in leaving for the holiday. A bit bored, I wrote on the blackboard in the main room the following: “Disregard all previous instructions about shipment -- Send baggage to: White House, Washington, D.C. Attention: Linen Closet.” Someone did exactly that. A few weeks later I was gently but firmly warned not to play games. Apparently, the arrival of a trainee’s trunk at the Linen Department of the White House caused Peace Corps a bit of embarrassment.
Our departure was delayed by about a month due to an attempted coup d’état for which one Mamadou Dia was jailed for a decade. But with President L.S. Senghor firmly in command, we arrived at Idlewild International Airport in New York City in the first week of February, 1963. We were accompanied by a group of teachers headed for Cote d'Ivoire. Over Newfoundland, the captain of our Pan Am prop-driven aircraft informed us that we would soon see fuel streaming from the wings as we had to lose weight and return to Idlewild; a piece of baggage left behind (one of six pieces) had exploded on the tarmac just before being put on the next flight to Lisbon, our intermediate stop. My parents had waved me off; fortunately, they had left the airport before the commotion. Mother would have had a fit. My grandmother was not believed when she announced to my parents on their return to the house that I had just called moments before. “Mother,” they said, “John is on his way to Africa.” We took off again after a 4 hour delay; this time with no one to wave us off and minus one volunteer who had failed the session on the “Chemistry of Packing.”
Enough excitement for one trip. But I awoke about 3 a.m. incredulous at perceiving flames shooting from one of our four engines. Maybe they were normal sparks I thought. No such luck. Our crippled plane hobbled into an Air Force base on the Azores. After a few hours, a plane arrived with a new crew and we went on to Lisbon to fetch still another crew and a third aircraft. Prior to taking off, I had purchased 1,000 feet of bulk film. I spent the last 6 hours of our trip preparing a couple hundred rolls of film for a number of volunteers. Finally, we arrived in Dakar at 2 a.m the following day, some thirty-six hours after our first departure. I vaguely remember the warm breezes and perfumed air as we stepped onto Senegalese soil. The Peace Corps had arrived.
The street and markets of Dakar provided fascinating days - until too many of them passed without our being assigned to projects. Apparently, that part of the planning was left for our arrival. In the meantime, we experienced the sights and smells of Dakar’s streets, including the sharp odor of tear gas and the sight of machine guns mounted on trucks at strategic intersections. This was, of course, due to Prime Minister Mamadou Dia's attempted coup.
I met President Senghor only once, in July, 1963. A few months later, he arranged to have delivered ten tons of cement for the project I worked on in Sedhiou.
First Group -- Rural Development and Athlete Coaches
We had to figure out things pretty much on our own. There were no volunteers to give us tips and help us on our way. All of our training took place at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Two thirds of our training was in technical skills and French; we had sessions on first aid, lots of physical conditioning, such as running miles and an obstacle course in the early mornings, history of West Africa, American cultural and political institutions; but no training in Senegal’s local languages.
And, in-country, there were no seminars or conferences and no regional houses where volunteers could exchange ideas and techniques. Letters home took two to three weeks each way and not all of them made it. There were few NGOs in Senegal, so when I needed technical assistance, for example, to confirm the safety of a plan to build a large free-standing wall that would stand up against storms and winter’s harmattan I had to find help in the U.S. That process took considerable time. Phone calls home were as rare as apple pie with ice cream in Senegal. (I did have apple pie with vanilla ice cream once - in a PCV's tent in the desert.) Even making a call in-country was a rarity. Only institutions, businesses, agencies and government organizations had phones; there were no telecenters until, if I remember correctly, the mid-90s.
PC headquarters in Dakar did not want volunteers traveling about or coming to Dakar without an official invitation. We were expected to stay at our sites, except for an annual vacation, unless business or health entailed travel. (And out of country vacations were limited to North and West Africa.)
We were not assigned to live with families, nor in small villages; we were not given Senegalese names. The government operated top down from a highly centralized bureaucracy located at “le Building” that houses the ministries. When we arrived we were given about $200 to buy household supplies and equipment including pots and pans.
Five of us were sent to Ziguinchor where we ate slept and read for another week before the Governor of the Casamance Region sent us to the Commandant of the Cercle de Sedhiou, He in turn assigned us to live in Koussy, about 15k north of Sedhiou in order to help build a village of 35 houses known as Koussy 3. The chief of Koussy gave us a house in his compound. The day we arrived, a Frenchman handed us the building plans and said "good luck and good bye." The PC headquarters in Dakar sent us a Jeep pick-up truck for the construction.
There were no Peace Corps leaders or supervisors to monitor or guide us. We were not asked for formal reports. The government did not provide any supervision either. We were expected to know how to get the job done and to do it. Luckily, we worked alongside a lot of enthusiastic, skilled people, and the work did proceed to completion.
We received postal money orders for about $175 a month in CFA at the post office in Sedhiou (a boatload of money in those days) and our housing was provided by the government at no cost to us. We hired a cook and ate meals in our house.
One problem with this system of top down work assignments was that when a project was completed or if it disintegrated for some reason, say lack of funding or personnel, neither PC headquarters nor the government had a back-up assignment for us. When our work at Koussy ended, the five of us drifted off in different directions. Nothing was discussed about this problem as I remember; it seemed that headquarters expected the volunteers to find worthwhile projects on their own. I went to Dakar and busied myself with some carpentry at the PC office, traveling about in a jeep taking photos of volunteers in the field for a PC publication, helping with a Senegalese Red Cross medicine distribution project, teaching photography and darkroom techniques at a social center (Centre du Bopp), teaching English in a U.S A.I.D. program and living at the University of Dakar dormitory.
I was in touch with people in Sedhiou that I had met while doing the construction work at Koussy. The next project that I worked on -- building a theater extension to a Maison des Jeunes -- was a product of discussions with them. To implement it, I had to make a written proposal for the Minister of Sports and Youth and discuss it with him. With the blessing of the Minister, I was granted an audience with the Governor of the Casamance Region, who approved the project and referred it to the Commandant in Sedhiou.
The Commandant provided the land, tools and the materials needed for the project. Much of the work was accomplished by Sedhiou’s masons, carpenters and some of the youth of Sedhiou, who volunteered their time. Electricity for the project was provided by the Minister of Health who lived in Sedhiou.
There was no Peace Corps Partnership Program. Some volunteers received help from Catholic Charities, one of the few non-governmental organizations then working in Senegal. There were very few Senegalese NGOs that I knew of.
In Sedhiou, I was accompanied by a PC volunteer who had originally come to train athletes. Later, he left Sedhiou and another volunteer whose original job had lapsed joined me. Work and site were fluid concepts, very much up to the volunteers’ persistence coupled with luck.
Though we were not urged to have secondary projects, at Sedhiou we conducted exercise classes at the elementary school, built a playground, taught photography and dark room technique and and helped create a banana orchard cooperative.
Everything stopped for two or three hours in the early afternoon for siesta. Dakar was a town of 250,000 with quiet streets, little traffic and peaceful sidewalk cafes on tree lined avenues. It was safe to walk anywhere, generally even at night. On the other hand, there were no cases de santé, postes de santé, centres de santé, no elementary schools in the villages, and few if any vegetable gardens except at Dakar. There were very small markets in the towns. In Sedhiou, pop. 5,000, the market consisted of a meat market and some fish sellers and shops owned by people of Lebanese descent. Most roads were not paved but many of them were in good condition as there were few trucks and very few cars.
I think that Peace Corps profited greatly by establishing its training center at Thies and by expecting volunteers to become proficient in the local language of their site. It is truly sad that Peace Corps had to move the volunteers out of the western Casamance in the early 90s and finally even out of the Sedhiou region.
First Return to Senegal, April, 1988.
My brother Alioune Diedhiou and I corresponded frequently for many years. after I left Senegal in 1964. But we lost contact for many years. One day in 1987, I wrote to Alioune care of the chief of his native village, Thiobon. About two months later I received a letter from him. It seems his father had just died and he went home for the funeral. My letter was waiting for him. After a few exchanges of letters, I decided to return to Senegal to see him and his family and to attend with him a Peace Corps celebration of its 25th anniversary in Senegal.
I got off the lorry at Carrefours Diaremé and took another one towards Sédhiou but found that the bridge a few Kms south of the carrefours was broken down, the center of the bridge being under water, apparently due to salt eating away the supports. So, I walked across the bridge with other travelers, enjoying the warm scented air and a full moon. I was back in the Casamance after almost 24 years. We passed Koussi in the night and then arrived in Sedhiou. I remember someone meeting me at the gare routière and taking me to Alioune’s Diedhiou’s place (Diedhioucounda). During my first return to Senegal, in 1988, I visited Koussy 3, Sedhiou and Thies where the Peace Corps celebrated its 25th anniversary in Senegal. At the training site in Thies, the PC held a mechoui. I found the thirty-five houses Koussy 3 fully occupied. But when I returned to Koussi 3 again in July, 2010, I found it in the condition shown below. I was stunned. The story is a sad one; I will not give details based on rumor. Nobody had resided there for many years. Then, in May, 2011, a friend who teaches in a nearby village sent me some pictures of people restoring some of the buildings, one of which is shown here (below, photo by Boubacar Seydi). Is it possible that Koussy 3 may again function as a village? I am hoping so to see more restorations.
Koussy 3 circa 1964 (photo provided by Judy Lewis, PC Senegal '64-'66)
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| Koussy 3 in 2010 |
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| Restorating a house at Koussy 3 (photo by Boubacar Seydi) |
During my 1988 visit I mentioned to a taxi man in Dakar that I had just arrived in Senegal for the first time since I was a Peace Corps volunteer in 1964. Instantly, he asked me, “How’s Mel?” I was speechless for a moment before replying, “You mean Mel the wrestler?” He said, “Yes, he was a good wrestler, is he OK?” I told him he was doing just fine. In my group of trainees, there was a contingent of athletes in basketball, running, wrestling and swimming. Then, when I reached Sédhiou, people whom I did not recognize called me by name on the streets, many of whom had been in grade school when I was a volunteer. On my second return to Senegal, in 1991, when I mentioned to a taxi driver in Ziguinchor that I was last there in 1964, he turned around and said, “I remember you, I took you to Djendé.” Djendé is a village 120 kms. from Ziguinchor near Sédhiou which was my first work assignment in February 1963.
Page 1 of the Dakar Matin upon the arrival of the second group of PCVs in September, 1963. I never saw an article about the arrival of my group in early February. In this picture of Bacary Coly and me at the quarry near Koussy, we are making stabilized earth bricks with a “Cinva Ram.” The bricks become very strong if they are “cured” (slowly dried and hardened) properly.
Senegal issued a commemorative stamp and envelope in 1988 for the 25th anniversary of Peace Corps in Senegal.
Solidarity in Senegal
Solidarity takes many forms, from engaging in greetings to helping strangers as well as neighbors who are in need. Consider when our taxi had a flat tire in Dakar; despite the competitive nature of a taxi man’s life in that busy city, three taxis stopped to lend a hand to repair the disabled cab. Then, consider Helen, who got a very late start, around noon, on the way back from Dakar to Sedhiou, some 250 miles away. These days, this is, at best, a 12 hour trip, clearly best begun early in the morning. The lorry driver was anxious to get going and the customs and police posts in The Gambia were not welcome rest stops, especially when the Gambian police decided to give Helen a hard time. Very likely, it was a problem in communication. With her passport still in the immigration office, Helen was no doubt pretty nervous. Suddenly, a dozen women on the lorry took up the defense, insisting in no uncertain terms that the officer give back the American’s passport. These women all became her mothers. Speaking of multiple mothers, when our daughter Elizabeth asked me to give cola nuts to her three mothers in Sedhiou where she studyied Mandinka, I wondered how the women in nearby compounds had mothered Elizabeth. It seems that they started bringing maani (porridge) to her each morning. They probably felt that Elizabeth’s vegan diet needed some supplementing.
Solidarity in Senegal
Solidarity takes many forms, from engaging in greetings to helping strangers as well as neighbors who are in need. Consider when our taxi had a flat tire in Dakar; despite the competitive nature of a taxi man’s life in that busy city, three taxis stopped to lend a hand to repair the disabled cab. Then, consider Helen, who got a very late start, around noon, on the way back from Dakar to Sedhiou, some 250 miles away. These days, this is, at best, a 12 hour trip, clearly best begun early in the morning. The lorry driver was anxious to get going and the customs and police posts in The Gambia were not welcome rest stops, especially when the Gambian police decided to give Helen a hard time. Very likely, it was a problem in communication. With her passport still in the immigration office, Helen was no doubt pretty nervous. Suddenly, a dozen women on the lorry took up the defense, insisting in no uncertain terms that the officer give back the American’s passport. These women all became her mothers. Speaking of multiple mothers, when our daughter Elizabeth asked me to give cola nuts to her three mothers in Sedhiou where she studyied Mandinka, I wondered how the women in nearby compounds had mothered Elizabeth. It seems that they started bringing maani (porridge) to her each morning. They probably felt that Elizabeth’s vegan diet needed some supplementing.
From My Diary
“Koussi, March 22nd [1963] – Now living in Koussi. One of us (Dick Netolicky), who has a lot of experience in construction, drew up some new plans for the construction of the 35 houses at Koussy Trois. We have a projector and some films. Tomorrow, the whole community will be at the “garage” to see them. Last night there was a tam-tam jam session. Drummers drummed for about 7 hours with barely a break. Mornings are cool, afternoons hot. My trunk finally made it. I have a decent bed at last. The new house gives us room, closets and even an overhead fan.
Koussi, April 1st—We have so much difficulty getting materials for the work – we are waiting now for the cement mixer, ‘til tomorrow I guess. We had a German visitor for 2 days and now a PCV from Kaolack, down to visit. No electricity and no water today, sat around. Too hot to do much reading or writing. We had 800 people at our movie last Saturday (some came from villages near Kousi).
Koussi, April 2nd – Received a load of laterite for making the concrete for the foundation of the first house. At the quarry, we loaded up bricks to bring to the site. During the loading, My hand came within 6 inches of a snake, 8 inches long, brown, about a half inch thick. It looked like a large worm but its bite we are told is fatal in a minute. One of the Senegalese loading bricks with me killed it with a brick. We expect Mr. P and possibly the PC Rep. to make a visit soon How M. P. exaggerates – we hear from Ivory Coast volunteers that we have no walls and get our food by foraging and fishing. Wait ‘til he hears about the snake.
What’s Changed?
“Koussi, March 22nd [1963] – Now living in Koussi. One of us (Dick Netolicky), who has a lot of experience in construction, drew up some new plans for the construction of the 35 houses at Koussy Trois. We have a projector and some films. Tomorrow, the whole community will be at the “garage” to see them. Last night there was a tam-tam jam session. Drummers drummed for about 7 hours with barely a break. Mornings are cool, afternoons hot. My trunk finally made it. I have a decent bed at last. The new house gives us room, closets and even an overhead fan.
Koussi, April 1st—We have so much difficulty getting materials for the work – we are waiting now for the cement mixer, ‘til tomorrow I guess. We had a German visitor for 2 days and now a PCV from Kaolack, down to visit. No electricity and no water today, sat around. Too hot to do much reading or writing. We had 800 people at our movie last Saturday (some came from villages near Kousi).
Koussi, April 2nd – Received a load of laterite for making the concrete for the foundation of the first house. At the quarry, we loaded up bricks to bring to the site. During the loading, My hand came within 6 inches of a snake, 8 inches long, brown, about a half inch thick. It looked like a large worm but its bite we are told is fatal in a minute. One of the Senegalese loading bricks with me killed it with a brick. We expect Mr. P and possibly the PC Rep. to make a visit soon How M. P. exaggerates – we hear from Ivory Coast volunteers that we have no walls and get our food by foraging and fishing. Wait ‘til he hears about the snake.
What’s Changed?
- In Sedhiou, standpipes for potable water were installed on many street intersections in the summer of 1964. They still functioned in 1988 when I first returned. But the standpipe near our compound no longer functions as a source of water for the neighborhood. Now, a family is obliged to pay to have a water pipe brought into the compound and the cost is significant.
- There was no electricity in all but a few compounds in Sedhiou, shops and government buildings. By 1988, many households had some electrical connection and there were a few televisions in town. Now, I would say, most households have an electrical connection and there are many televisions.
- There are now many fewer forested areas and wild animals. In the 1960s, the Casamance River at Sedhiou boasted large, fresh water fish and hippos. I once followed some kind of very large cat in the bush.
- There being no TV and few radios, after work and into the night, people gathered to talk and there was very frequent dancing and music everywhere, especially long dances on weekends.
- Many rivers had no bridges; instead, people, cars and lorries were poled across the water on rafts. There were few paved roads but the laterite roads were kept in excellent shape.
- At Sedhiou, mail took two or three weeks one way to and from the States. International phone calls were very rare, difficult and costly. We almost never made a local phone call.
- There were far fewer schools, especially in smaller towns and villages, and far fewer health facilities. I don’t believe there were elementary schools in villages, nor were there health facilities at the village level.
- Sedhiou had no market such as it has today. There were tailors. There were a few shops operated by Senegalese of Lebanese descent, and one could buy fish and fresh meat (a cow was killed each day for the town). But there were no vendors of fresh vegetables.
- Travel from the Casamance through The Gambia was very easy, there being excellent main roads and ferries that were in good shape; there were no long waits to cross the Gambia river.
- At Sedhiou, there was a source of gasoline at a shop but there were very very few vehicles other than government ones. A few people had motor bikes.
- There are just a whole lot more people, everywhere, so more noise, problems. When I was a PCV in Dakar, crime was simply not an issue. You could go pretty much anywhere anytime without worrying about it. The streets of Dakar (a city of about 250,000) were quite relaxed with side walk cafes.
- Travel by taxi brousse and car rapide were pretty much as today in principle but 90% less in number.
A Grand Grand Opening
by Chuck Gamina
reprinted from the Baobab, June 1964
This year the city of New York has seen many Grand Openings. The Huntington Hartford Museum of Art, the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, and the World’s Fair are a few to mention. There was glamour, excitement, lights and music which accompanied these events. There were celebrities, enthusiasm and a great feeling of accomplishment.
Now the town of Sedhiou is a small town in the Casamance and has very little resemblance to New York, and probably wouldn’t want to. But Saturday night, June 6th, there was much excitement in this town and to the people who make Sedhiou their home, things were just as festive. It was the opening of the Cinema Sedhiou.
The two biggest celebrities on hand were Mike Yanasak and John Hand and deservedly so for it was the culmination of all their efforts. Like Hartford, Bernstein and Moses of New York, this was the night to find both the gratification and pride or as is sometimes the case, some added frustratios for a job well done. Luckily it turned out well.
The theater itself is quite an impressive sight. It can hold 1300 people comfortably, 1500 uncomfortably, and close to 2000 people when it is opening night and free. It has a screen way high (I forgot to ask for dimensions), a modern projection booth and can be easily used by the Maison des Jeunes for other events.
The celebrities who attended the opening were: Dembo Coly, the Minister of Health and Social Affairs and also the Mayor of Sedhiou, who treated the American entourage to a nice dinner beforehand; Mr. Abdoulaye Biaye, the director of the Maison des Jeunes, who gave John and Mike much appreciated cooperation and the Commandant de Cercle.
Among the other celebrities were Mr. Hoffman, Mr. & Mrs. Carter, Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Easum of the U.S. Embassy and Mr. Foon and Keba Jr., our friends from Banjul.
There we also a number of Volunteers who were there for a number of reasons. (Free meals, free movies, free rides to Sedhiou among their inferior reasons, moral support a superior one.) They were: Dianna Paviso, Judy Leidy, Terry Allen, Daves Volk and Harnish, Ben Johnson and myself. Impressive group, huh! The occasion began late, in the true Sénégalese fashion and was led off by a few very complimentary speeches by the Sénégalese officials who had a few very nice things to say about the Corps de la Paix Americain. It sounded great but we didn’t know whether to clap for ourselves or not. The speeches were followed by the national Anthem of Sénégal, perhaps the first time ever presented accompanied by maracas.
The film presentation, which was donated by the French Cultural Center, was, as it should have been, the highlight of the evening. Actualities Sénégalaises, followed by a Buster Keaton real old and real funny short started the audience off. Good ole Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly Ranier finished them off as they waited for the train that was going to Siffler Trois Fois. (It took me about ten minutes to figure out that it was High Noon. I swear it only siffled two fois in the American version!)
Applications are now being taken for jobs. All PCVs interested should write directly to Cinema Sedhiou. There are openings for ushers, ticket booth ladies, candy counter sellers etc.
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